India's new foreign secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale: A rare diplomat

Vijay Keshav Gokhale's tenure as foreign secretary promises to guide India's external affairs along paths never taken before

The elevation of Vijay Keshav Gokhale to the post of foreign secretary has been attributed in contemporary diplomatic folklore to the role he played in resolving the Doklam issue in 2017 when he was India’s ambassador in Beijing.

Such a view does great disservice to the experience and history of service of a rare diplomat whose tenure as foreign secretary promises to guide India’s external affairs along paths never taken before.

Gokhale is only the third officer in the history of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) to have served in Taipei, Hong Kong and Beijing. He is the only diplomat among these